Ahmedabad-based adviser Birju Archarya operates an Insurance Marketing Firm which caters to over 8,000 clients pan India with a legacy of a 30-year stock broking franchise. After establishing his foothold in broking, Birju decided to foray into other products like mutual funds to offer a holistic goal-based solution to clients.
Birju has been regularly using Morningstar Advisor Workstation to enhance his research capabilities. “AWS tools help us understand the stock overlap between different mutual funds. After seeing the depth of reports, client confidence level in us increases,” says Birju.
Birju says that advisers should differentiate themselves by showcasing their value add using technology tools. Birju explains how he is showcasing his research while making a recommendation to his prospects, “I have made an asset allocator fund. This fund allocates the corpus in mutual funds which contain large cap, mid cap, small cap, gold, debt funds and international funds. Generally, advisers look at performance and recommend a scheme for systematic investment plan, or SIP. But I use hypothetical tool which helps me showcase to clients how a portfolio of funds would perform over different time periods. After seeing this report, clients increase their SIP commitment.”
Birju today manages over Rs 75 crore in mutual funds with a monthly SIP book of Rs 45 lakh.
Conveying his message across to clients with the help of graphical charts and reports is helping Birju onboard new clients faster. Further, the research outcome is helping Birju convey to prospects that his recommendations are backed by solid research and data. “We ask for the prospect's existing portfolio. We compare it with our existing model portfolio using AWS. We make a report of how both portfolios would perform over a five-year period. After seeing the report, clients realise that their portfolio needs a rejig. This helps us get not only the existing mutual fund assets but also their stocks portfolio. Client acquisition becomes very easy by using these tools. Half the job is done by the reports. Prospects get a document containing where their money will be invested, allocation to different sectors, stocks, asset allocation which gives them a reasonable idea about their model portfolio. One of my prospects wanted to invest Rs 3 lakh per month for 12 years. I designed his portfolio using AWS. He has accepted my proposal.”
Like Birju, Subhankar Chakraborty, Managing Partner, Perfect Finserv, is using AWS to boost his productivity.
Subhankar has a chemical engineering degree under his belt. He gravitated towards financial markets while hile pursuing his Masters in Business Administration. After his corporate stint, Subhankar found his calling and decided to strike out on his own by floating Perfect Finserv in 2011. He completed his Certified Financial Planner course to get acquainted with the technical know-how of handling client portfolios.
Subhankar narrates how AWS is helping him project his research more professionally and focus on growing business. “Individual advisers have limited bandwidth. Advisers would find it difficult to generate graphics and reports on their own. If we spend time on research our business development and growth slows down. Even if I have sound knowledge of financial markets, this tool helps me convey my ideas/thoughts prospects. It saves a lot of time spent on research, which we can dedicate towards meeting new prospects. When I review portfolios, AWS tools help me convey to clients the deviations from the benchmark. I use research and hypothetical tools very often. The reports help clients understand the similarities/overlap between schemes and how each fund is unique. Rather than sending excel sheets, sending AWS generated reports portrays our professionalism.”
Subhankar today manages assets under advisory of Rs 40 crore across products and has started advising NRI clients.
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